With Amazon Prime, I got the entire library of out of copyright classics for free. That included pretty much every book I actually sort of enjoyed from middle school and high school, included the entirety of the works of Mark Twain.

The 99 cent book sales ensure I'm not paying too much for something I might not like, and every month Amazon publishes a list of 100 books available for less than $4, which usually includes a few bestsellers.

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FFXI: Catwho on Bismarck: Retired December 2014

Thayos wrote:

I can't understand anyone who skips the cutscenes of a Final Fantasy game. That's like going to Texas and not getting barbecue.

I hate reading off a tablet screen for a long period of time, personally, and thus prefer the e-ink versions. Plus, you only have to charge them like once a month, if that.

This post probably won't help at all.

Seconded. LCD screens are fine for short duration reading, reading magazines, or playing games. If you value your eyes, you shouldn't use them for reading novels. I've owned 2 e-readers so far, a nook simple touch and a nook simple touch glow. The simple touch glow is entirely worth it. The Kindle e-ink version of the simple touch glow will be out shortly. I think Kindle has a slight edge on their operating system over the nook, but its not huge and if you have a barnes and noble card already that outweighs it. The sony e-readers are also quite nice. overprices, but still very nice. they didn't have a glowlight one as of last time I looked though.

Buy a tablet for playing angry birds. Get a simple touch glow for actual reading.

Went to BN on my lunch break today and picked up Storm Front, the first book in the Dresden Files. I was kind of disappointed in the price because at first I had Sword of Shannara, which was $2 cheaper and a couple hundred pages longer.

I read the first couple chapters of Storm Front and it's pretty good. A guy at BN saw what book I was buying and asked if I had ever read a similar series by Glen Cook of The Black Company fame. I said I hadn't and he couldn't remember the series name, just that every book had some kind of metal in the title.

Anybody know what he was talking about and if it's any good?

Edit: After overlooking it on Glen Cook's Wikipedia page 4 times, apparently he was talking about Garrett PI. My second question still stands.

Amazon Marketplace and Ebay are where I pick up my books now. Between the two of them, I can usually find the books I want in hardcover for less than the price of new paperback. Unless it's a newly released book, I always buy used. As much as I love technology, I prefer holding an actual book in my hands over a tablet/ereader.

The first couple books in The Dresden Files are the worst of the lot. They don't really start to grab you until book four, but after that they make for a fairly solid series.

I've read the Garret series. It's good. it's also some of his oldest work so you can find the whole entire series in used book stores. It's making a comeback because he just wrote a pair of new books in the series though. Its hard to find piecemiel, and they haven't re-released up to the point where he just picked back up again writing them, so if you don't go the used book store route they can be difficult to find in order. Some of the middile ones can be a little similar, though the last one just threw out most of the paradigm and reset a few things, which will be interesting to see how it goes.

You might also like some of Simon R Green's similar series (the "secret histories" one or the "Nightside" one in particular) There is also a very similar series that I can't remember the auther about a character in the title named "Tharaxxis" but not spelled like that since google appears to be refusing to find anything similar to that name and the books are hideing on my bookshelf from me. But that one is also good, though he never finished it because he went crazy and stopped writing.

Ender series is cool, by O.S. Card (was mentioned a few post up). If you have not read them, find a site that list them in the "right" order as the story flows better.

Discworld is something I picked up because there were many books (I do Audio books at work, so I can, in Theory listen to 8hrs or so each day), and found I REALLY liked them. Netflix has some of the RL TV movies, and animated ones. They are awesome.

Everything else I could list I think has been said. However a quick search didn't show The Kingkiller Chronicle. It is @ book 2, with at least 1 more to go. It is a pretty good story.

Did you pick up a Nook yet, BDJ? If you did, you can find torrents online, and a program like Calibre should help to convert file formats if you need to, in order to get them onto your reader. For backing up copies of books you already own, of course.

Did you pick up a Nook yet, BDJ? If you did, you can find torrents online, and a program like Calibre should help to convert file formats if you need to, in order to get them onto your reader. For backing up copies of books you already own, of course.

No, I'll be getting the Nook as a Christmas present to myself when I get my bonus check in early December. Until then it's paperbacks for me.

Picked up books 2 and 3 of the Dresden Files today. Someone earlier in the thread said the first few books were the worst. If this series only gets better after that first entry, I'm in for a treat.

I didn't find the first few books bad; it's just after you've read a bunch, you really get invested in the characters and (from what I remember) the author's writing skills improve a bit.

See, that's what I figured whoever posted that meant, but I didn't find Butcher's writing to be bad at all. I found the editing proofreading to be borderline terrible, but I'm not really reading a book unless I find an error every third page or so.

God **** I am tearing through the Dresden Files. I bought book 4 (Summer Knight) on my lunch break Monday and I'm already over halfway done with it just reading it for a bit before work and on lunch breaks. I wanted to get book 5 (Death Masks), but the BN by work didn't have it. The one by my house has it, so I reserved a copy and I'll pick it up tonight.

And whoever said the books get better was right. Everyone so far has been better than the one before it.

I would prefer books that come in a series. It's always nice to follow the same story/characters through mutliple books. I like fantasy, sci-fi, and, oddly enough, mysteries. I've read Game of Thrones, Wheel of Time, most of Agatha Christie's Poirot novels, most of the Alex Cross novels by James Patterson, enough of the Dune series to know I don't want to read any more, Harry Potter, and a ton of other random stuff.

I need some suggestions on what to read while waiting for GoT book 6.

An old friend of mine wrote this [or in ebook format]; It's a mystery novel set in a urban fantasy environment.

I would prefer books that come in a series. It's always nice to follow the same story/characters through mutliple books. I like fantasy, sci-fi, and, oddly enough, mysteries. I've read Game of Thrones, Wheel of Time, most of Agatha Christie's Poirot novels, most of the Alex Cross novels by James Patterson, enough of the Dune series to know I don't want to read any more, Harry Potter, and a ton of other random stuff.

I need some suggestions on what to read while waiting for GoT book 6.

An old friend of mine wrote this [or in ebook format]; It's a mystery novel set in a urban fantasy environment.

And you gave him three five star reviews, very generous.

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“Socialism never took root in America because the poor see themselves not as an exploited proletariat but as temporarily embarrassed millionaires.”

Had to buy books 6 and 7 of the Dresden Files yesterday. These books are so damned good!!! I noticed that a new one was just released, at least on paperback, but I can't remember the name of it. I'm enjoying Butcher's writing so much, I may have to check out his other series when I get to the end of the Dresden Files.

On a side note, a friend of mine is reading the Garrett, PI series and says they're pretty good. When I finish the Dresden Files (or at least catch up to Butcher's writing speed), I may have to check those out.

Something I've been reading recently is King's The Dark Tower series. On Book 4, and it's pretty good. It's not typical Stephen King work (i.e., not Horror). There's elements of it, but it's more of a Western/Fantasy/Sci Fi/Horror/Adventure mashup. Definitely worth a pickup if you like any or all of those genres.

Good news for all you nerds, BT is working on completing his novel, Red Junction. It's a horror/zombie/western that's kind of the awesomest thing ever. If anyone is interested, here is a link to an exerpt, he is putting together a Kickstarter page to try to secure the final push of funds to finish, edit, and self-publish it as an ebook. Of course the dream is that enough people will like it that it will get printed some day, and he has enough material for a triology, so I thought this would be a decent place to test the waters and see if there are any nibbles.